Israel is proud to present: The aggressor-victim
Israelis have always loved victimization, not only when we were real victims, as often was the case in our history, but also when we were the aggressors, occupiers and abusers.
By Gideon LevyOnce upon a time the staple piece of clothing was the blue shirt of the Labor Movement, and songwriter Mordechai Zeira sang about it: "And it's much better than all jewels." A new generation has arrived, and its shirt is darker. Today it's black and bears the legend: We are all the victims of Goldstone.
Dozens of friends of the two Givati Brigade soldiers arrived wearing these infuriating shirts at a military court a few days ago. Their friends had been convicted of overextending their authority while risking the life of an 11-year-old, and to be precise, of conduct unbecoming of soldiers. The soldiers received the scandalous support of senior officers, and the two convicted men have become heroes.
Israel is proud to present: The aggressor-vicitim. History has known crueler and even longer occupations than the Israeli one, and there have been much worse attacks on civilian populations than Operation Cast Lead. But there has never been an occupier who presented himself like that, as a victim.
From the days of Golda Meir, who said we will never forgive the Arabs for forcing us to hurt their children, to the combatants who shot and wept, we have set, courtesy of the Givati troops, a new record of Israeli chutzpah: We are all the victims of Goldstone.
The victimhood, it turns out, belongs not to an 11-year-old child whose life was put at risk and who has been suffering from insomnia ever since, but the soldiers who ordered him to check for explosives, in clear contradiction of a ruling by the Supreme Court.
Not the Samouni family, 21 of whose members were butchered when the same Givati Brigade, under the same commander, bombed the house into which the soldiers ordered the family, but the brigade commander, Ilan Malka, whose conduct is now being investigated, shamefully late. And certainly not the residents of Gaza, who experienced Cast Lead with its hardships, horrors, destruction and war crimes, but the soldiers, who share responsibility with the commanders and politicians.
We've always loved victimization, not only when we were real victims, as often was the case in our history, but also when we were the aggressors, occupiers and abusers. And we don't only cast ourselves as victims, but as the only victims. But observe our perception of our wrongdoing. It started with denial, then changed to suppression, then to shamelessness, then to dehumanization and demonization, until we arrived at the current stage: A pride parade.
The soldiers taking pictures of themselves dancing with prisoners and posing with corpses are proud of what they do. They upload the footage onto the Web, for all to see, and friends of the two Givati troops are equally proud of what their mates have done. They're proud of the conduct of people who broke the law. Their solidarity may be understandable, but it's much more difficult to understand the support of their brigade commander, Col. Moni Katz, and Maj. Gen. (res. ) Uzi Dayan.
What are they saying - that the soldiers acted correctly? That they should not be punished? That they are victims? In that case, we have little to claim from the soldiers, who were only acting according to the spirit emanating from their superiors. But most difficult to understand is the widespread public support for the two. Just like the Nahariya policeman convicted of placing bombs to injure suspected mobsters, they are local heroes and national victims to many.
Do we really want to be proud of the soldiers ordering children to risk their lives, in violation of the law? Is this how we want the army to behave? Will Israeli public opinion never accept that war has rules and that if Israeli soldiers break them, they must be punished? True, they may have been carrying out orders, they may have been jaded and exhausted after three weeks of the assault on Gaza, as the court has heard. But casting them as victims testifies to the chaos overtaking Israel.
So we should go back to basics. The victims of Cast Lead are the 1.5 million residents of Gaza. The "victims" of the Goldstone report are not the two convicts, but their own victims. The shirts worn by their friends in court are proof that these basic truths have been blurred and distorted beyond recognition.
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If the majority of the jews ,all over the world, especially those living in palestine, possess the same principles you believe in, namely human dignity and real democracy, then i'm ready ,as a palestinian refugee, to abandon my right for return and recognize israel as a jewish state in its UN-recognized borders..
just for fun. This is pure Arab propaganda. They also claim that young girls returning from school are shot by jewish snipers to alleviate the womb time bomb. Levy has never been on the battlefield and does not want acknowledge what is making war against a cynical enemy. Do not want any IDF soldier to be even injured, better the enemy suffering casualties and no problem to bring down the number of buildings it is necessary to carry out victory. Arabs living in Gaza choose Hamas, they must get used to their choice and bear responsability! Enough of the cynical and distorted sweet heart discourse. Just look at what will do to you the enemy and this is enough to get rid of it whatever the mean is. This is not school backyard, this is war to win. Stop whinning Levy, go live in Sderot and get a real taste of life under Arab ruling. Fed up with this distorted discourse,
Well said. But does it matter if you hold up the mirror and no one looks at it? Was it not Bibi who decorated the killers of nine Turks? Israel seems to keep diggiing deepr and deeper.
Levy is doing his best to hide the fact that Israel is victim of an ongoing Arab agression.
Gideon, You are truly a self hating Israeli... sad to see...
The contribution I would like to make to this talkback, is what has happened to me over the las year or so with Mr. Gideon Levy's articles. Maybe somebody agrees and understands something; maybe somebody disagrees and understands something too. I used to read them, and feel aggravated by the one-sidedness I perceive. Sometimes it was his indulging in demonizing Israel, not seeing how he plays right into the tsunami of globalized, Muslim and leftist anti-Semitism. Until I arrived to a point where I don't want to read him anymore. Maybe I am not alone. And where else would I say this? I did read this article, but only for the sake of saying this, for the reasons mentioned above. However, i think stating it, is in itself legitimate. It is the only honest contribution I can make, and maybe, just maybe, my hunch that I'm not the only one is right.
and the ugliness you have supported, you turn away like the three monkeys facing a mirror. And fascism wins another round.
And I often feel sorry for you, when I read your posts, because you must feel threatened and suffer when you believe in the existence of such a tsunami...
Sadly, Mr Levy sees things from only one perspective, and is hypnotized to not see Palestinian aggression. Hence constant bombs and missiles, kidnappings and murder of soldiers is not "aggression", nor does it warrant a response. The same leftist government that withdrew from gaza in a hurry, was also drawn back into cast lead. But Levy is not alone. The leftist media also sees things like this. Their reporting ignores the first strike in the conflict, which is invariably arab. the Israeli response is then overblown, and it is mentioned in passing that it was in response to ... The hypocrisy is when the west is under attack, eg 9.11, 7/7, etc. Then it is the US or UK under attack, and the wars are justified self defense.
Israel is becoming a fascist state. One that always claims to be a victim. Turkey plays this part well, instead of admitting to the Armenian genocide, they say the Turks are the victims instead. Turkey is a fascist state. A fascist state that still wants to get in the EU, Germany has made reparations to the Jews; Kurds are reconciling with the Armenians faster than the Turks are. There are democrats in Germany and in Kurdistan. Turkey is still missing an element of democracy; not giving equal rights to minorities. Can they ever achieve that before they become a backward Islamic state? Is Israel becoming a backward undemocratic state? It seems like it. Where are civil rights too for gays or women and for arabs living in Israel? I think it is the fault of the Israeli educational system that wants them to be always the victim. The educational system would have to be changed; but I don't read about that happening.
Israel is a victim of biased UN Human Rights Council malicious accusations through its hyperactively biased reports. There is an anti-Israel lobby in the UN Human Rights Council. Those countries use the Palestinian issue to hide their own atrocities and make up new Israeli allegations. Noone likes accusations of war crimes to be thrown at them. Especially, in Israel's case, when they are not true, but are malicious politically motivated accusations of serious war crimes. Luckily the army has a strict ethical and legal code that it applies without fear or favour. The quality of its justice system is second to none. Even relatively minor infringments where no one was hurt are not tolerated and go fully punished. I don't ignore the civilian victims in Gaza and Israel. Every war is tragic and remains a failure of diplomacy.
Luckily the army has a strict ethical and legal code that it applies without fear or favour. The quality of its justice system is second to none. H Say isn,t the british legal system better than Israel,s or at least as good.
You're kidding, aren't you? We continually read about incidents in which Israel's response is: It never happened. It happened, but the report is exaggerated. OK, it happened as reported, but the law doesn't apply to us because of the following reasons (blah, blah, blah). You really expect us to believe Israel applies the law without fear of favor?
In spite of this, or, perhaps because of this, the IDF was soundly thrashed by Hizbollah in the 2006 war. Because of this the Gaza op, which was a reprisal campaign against the Gaza civilians was considered a great victory by Israelis. The crowing stopped when they realized the true nature of that war. The flotilla fiasco was more of the same. The Israeli army, navy, and air force, was dispatched to kill a handful of "terrorists" who had not thought to bring guns or bombs with them.
Nazis Germany saw itself as a victim of the 1919 Versailes treaty, of the vengeful Allies, and of international Jewry. Bush and Blair saw themselves as victims of a diabolical WMD-wielding Saddam threatening America and Britain. The Tea Party seem themselves a victims of a lefty-liberal-pinko media and political elite etc. etc. I think Gideon Levy talks a lot of sense, but on this point I think he may be over-focusing on Israel.
you are correct, of course, but Israel is unique in the sense that their sense of victimhood, whether it's real or imagined, must be shared by everyone else regardless of circumstances lest critics be called anti-semites with genocidal intent. Was the reaction to the Nazis occupying Czechoslovakia, Poland, France etc. called anti-German and genocidal? Were/are Bush and Blair celebrated and decorated for invading Iraq in their own countries or elsewhere? Are reasonable people coerced in any way to respect the feelings and political views of the Tea Party? I don't think so.
Yesterday a video was published showing Arabs and Leftists destroying olive trees to put the blame on settlers. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3976976,00.html
Of course, I am not proud of such IDF soldiers behavior - I wouldn't do it - but in the media world today I know that this is ALL what they do? Do you think that Syria, or Iran's army is more humane because there are no movies on the web? What happened with USA army in Iraq is similar: soldiers have many electronic gadgets and they are used to film. I bet the level of private electronics among North Korea soldiers is far less, consequently - no movies - do you think they are better?
You're right... But then stop bullying us with your "most moral" army of the world ! Besdides, remember who is thee occupyer...
And they HAD often been victims in the past, so there are more similarities.
you mean the Palestinians deserved Plan Dalet because they dared to live in the postulated "land without people"?
thousands of rockets isn't enough?
That makes them the occupier and the aggressor, stimulating legitimate resistance from the people they treat so desicably.
... is kosher in you eyes...?!
Do those rockets then absolve you from all rules toward your enemies and make everything you do to them legal?
Your own house wouldn't count ,Leftie Esther from TA and question of your children not able to attend school because of rocket attacks wouldn't arrise-they receive home schooling at Stalimnism ,Maoism and Juhi,Kim-Il-Sung's immortal Way
Maybe when you stop sieging hundreds of thousands of people, and bombing them to the stone age, people will take you seriously. Until then, a few crappy rockets coming from a brutalized territory won't make that much of an impression.
if one has any doubt about who's correct in this conflict,he need not look any further than your answers. no israeli is looking to be a victim. but for you all to diminish the blatant harm and violence imposed upon us after we withdrew from aza is to malicously overlook the provocation that forced us to defend ourselves. we were victims but we don't disregard international law and human life. in fact, despite all the attempts to prove otherwise,there's few exceptions of a very few individuals that violate that standard from our side. we don't systematically target civilians like the hamas. rather be mislabelled as aggressors and survive than be obsequious to you all and a dead victim.
You expect people to accept whatever abuse and violence is heaped upon them and not fight back. If Arabs are absolved of all rules in your mind, why not Jews
Well over one third of these soldiers and their officers are born of the settlers - are they not? In the territories, the aggressors have ALWAYS been the" victims"!
For those who desperately look for Israel to redeem itself, Levy is one of the few reasons not to give up all hope. As long as there are the voices of Uri Avnery, Gideon Levy, Bradley Burston and others who love Israel but are clearheaded enough to see it as it is, there is a chance this nation can be saved from sliding down the slippery slope to the hell of a racist, theocratic, totalitarian regime where the rights of minorities are trampled without a thought.
The situation is getting out of control. Extremists on both side are using each other to add fuel to the fire. The Iranian regime are using this fire for their own agenda. We want peace. We desperately want peace. Sanity should be restored.
The problem is that the Israeli public is far more radicalized than the American one. If Gideon made a similar rally, he would surely be pelted to death by settlers, haredim, Israel Beiteneu voters, and all the rest.
Show you are human !
Absolute Sweden, even though I don't condone the beheadings in Saudi and wish they would stop, at least they are done after a long process in courts and convictions of criminal acts. However, your beloved IDF is doing that in cold blood to innocent children. Your logic is twisted and facts are fake.
Alleged "IDF killing of children" ? What next ,Mohammed Caroons in Denmark ? p.s. Your Yemeni neighbours would wish Saudi army behaved like the IDF ,instead of napalming whole villages in the border area..
This post, like nearly all A.S. posts, has nothing to do with the topic being discussed.
But the zionists want land for so called PEACE !!! Just pray for (peace) until they reach you in MEKKA!!!
Perpetration is Victimhood. Oppression is Freedom. Crime is Legal. War is Peace. These are the lessons that the children of this region are learning. Think about what this means for the future. Muslim and Jew, alike. Just think about it.
current israeli mentality is understood by few people in the world and this should worry you. but instead of feeling sorry for yourself and playing the blame game, set up an organisation that gets part of your youth out of the country before, after or as an alternative to military service. there is a whole world outside of israel, get to know it, keep an open mind !.
if the enemies (those sworn to her destruction) of Israel were to lay down their arms, there would be peace. if Israelis were to lay down their arms there would be no more Gidon Levy -- oh yes -- and Israel for that matter.
no doubt their lands would be confiscated, settlements built on that land and the people there subjugated to the Israeli's. Who would be so foolish?